Good Tuesday morning. The Iowa caucuses are getting close, providing a lot of fodder for your Digest. 1. How could New York Times endorsement help? The New York Times has endorsed two women in the Democratic presidential nomination battle: Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren. The nod could help Klobuchar raise more money for her campaign and bolster her profile — especially in places where she has not spent a lot of time campaigning. "May the best woman win," concluded the editorial board's unusual dual endorsement. In announcing its picks, the editorial board wrote that Warren and Klobuchar are the most effective advocates for both the radical and the realist models. Each candidate, it stated, warrants serious consideration. The editorial board placed Warren in the "radical" category. Among other things, she favors eliminating private health insurance in favor of a government-run plan for everyone. The Times described Klobuchar as a "realist." She does not support banning private health insurance and is instead pushing for a government-run plan that people could opt into, if they choose. MPR News
2. Klobuchar backs away from English language vote. Democratic presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar says she was wrong to vote for a 2007 bill that included a provision making English the nation’s official language. Klobuchar answered a question about the topic during a Vice News “Brown and Black Presidential Candidate Forum” in Des Moines on Monday. The event was held on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. “I think we’ve learned a lot since then including why we don’t want that to happen because it would be such a problem for immigrants trying to do everything from accessing government to vote,” Klobuchar said. The vote came during Klobuchar’s first term as a senator. Monday, she said she’s been a longtime supporter of a pathway to citizenship for people who are in the U.S. illegally, noting that her Republican opponent ran ads against her on the issue in the 2006 campaign. Fox 9 News
3. Impeachment trial cuts into campaign. Amy Klobuchar sounded like a candidate with an eye on the clock. The senator from Minnesota had been on the road all day Sunday, starting the morning in Davenport, where she had awakened to discover she’d won the endorsement of the local newspaper, the Quad-City Times. She had held a town hall in tiny Marion and then driven two hours to Des Moines, where she appeared at two more events back to back. By the time Klobuchar rolled up here, in her bright green campaign bus with “Amy” written on the side in giant white letters, it was well after 7 p.m. on what was said to be the coldest night of the year in Iowa so far. But a little weather has never stopped Klobuchar. But there was something even bigger than Mother Nature that she couldn’t challenge: the impending kickoff of the impeachment trial of Trump in Washington. Klobuchar and the other sitting senators in the presidential race — Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Michael F. Bennet (D-Colo.) — are all jurors required to be there, disrupting their campaigns a little over two weeks before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses on Feb. 3. Washington Post
4. Trade policy complicates Trump’s relationship with farmers. The rain came first, drenching the fields and delaying planting. Then 70 mph wind knocked down half their corn. Chinese tariffs sank the price of soybeans. And if that weren’t enough, demand for corn dropped after Washington gave oil refineries a pass on using ethanol. For Rachel and Lance Daberkow, poor weather compounded by President Donald Trump’s trade and fuel policies has meant cutting costs as income from their 640-acre farm dwindled over the past two years. Like some other growers around Minnesota struggling with an uncertain farm economy, their faith in a president who carried rural America four years ago is being tested. As the father of two young boys, Lance Daberkow, 37, sees Trump at least trying to resolve long-standing trade problems with China. He believes farmers will benefit long term if Trump is re-elected. His wife is warier: “If you continually are going to take away our opportunities,” Rachel says, “why would I want to do business with you?” Star Tribune
5. Education issues for upcoming session. Legislators who work on education issues in Minnesota are drawing up their plans to address some of the state’s most urgent problems, including things like student mental health issues, gaps in early childhood education, career and technical education and the state’s persistent education disparities. There's considerable agreement in Minnesota's divided Legislature on what needs to be fixed in the state’s education system. But Republican and DFL legislators don't always agree on exactly how to solve issues like rising rates of mental health problems and the state’s nation-leading opportunity gap. Last year lawmakers were focused on passing an education budget. This year, the focus is more on policy. But lawmakers have a projected $1.3 billion budget surplus to work with. MPR News | 